Taking Liberties
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: When Sam receives curious dreams from the AllSpark, he realises he has an important task to carry out. However, it seems he may need help from one of the Decepticons, and if he is unwilling to give it, Sam may be forced to take it…
1. Chapter 1

Taking Liberties.

Summary: When Sam receives curious dreams from the AllSpark, he realises he has an important task to carry out. However, it seems he may need help from one of the Decepticons, and if he is unwilling to give it, Sam may be forced to take it.

Continuity: 07/09 Movieverse.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dreamworks/Paramount, and Hasbro, not I.

A/N: This is what resulted when ReflectionsOfReality gave me a bunny to play with.

Taking Liberties.

Prologue - AllSpark Dreams.

Sam woke, his head spinning, his mind full of images and his eyes wet from the tears he had shed. Usually, Sam could not recall his dreams, they were vague, nebulous things that dissipated with the first stirrings of consciousness, but these ones were different. These ones were clearly remembered, although very confusing in places. He was also aware that they were not his own.

How he knew was not because they were so clear. Neither was it because he was dreaming of Cybertron, or of a vessel, places he had been told little about and had never visited, although these reinforced this certainty. No, what told Sam that the dreams were not his own was a familiar sensation. He had only felt the touch of this presence once before, a few months earlier in college, but it was immediately recognisable.

The source of these alien dreams was the AllSpark Essence, and the dreams had told him a story, and given him an important task to carry out, a task upon which thousands of lives depended upon. Refusing it was out of the question, Sam's own morals and the Witwicky stubborn streak refused to allow that to be an option. The question was, how could he achieve this monumental task?

He sat up on the edge of his bed and got dressed. Looking at his clock, he saw it was early by human standars, although in the Autobot Base, where he was currently staying during the holidays for a short time, that meant nothing. The 'bots deferred to the human's diurnal sleep cycles to be polite, dimming the lights and not working near the human quarters between 11PM and 8AM unless it was absolutely necessary that the work be done at that time, but the 'bots generally only needed to recharge every seven to ten days. Of course, this interval grew shorter if they had been battling or working hard, but they still worked as efficiently at night as they did during daylight hours.

Sam found that Bumblebee was absent, but was not surprised either by that or by the message he found left for him. Because Sam could not com, and did not always turn his phone on till late, he and Bee had had a large whiteboard installed in his temporary room where 'Bee stated when he was there, with both human and Autobot-sized markers so they could leave messages for each other. On the board in black, in Bumblebee's large cursive hand, was a message for Sam.

**'****Gone to recharge. Cycle finish time: 1300 hours. B.'**

Sam smiled: although the Autobots could recharge just by shutting down, using recharging chambers constructed by Ratchet speeded the process. Sam checked his watch again and nodded. It was before nine in the morning, he would have plenty of time, although he could use some help getting to Tranquility, just a stopoff before he reacvhed his planned final destination.

He used the phone, installed again for his comfort and ease, to call up Mirage in the control room.

"Hey, 'Raj," he said nonchalantly. "I was hoping to go into town this morning to met' Kayla and get her a present a bit early. I guess I forgot to tell Bee, and he's recharging. Could you find out if someone else could take me? I'll leave 'Bee a message on our board."

"Certainly Sam. Please hold on a moment while I enquire of all those whose patrols go through the town or have free time if they could help you out," said the cultured voice of the onetime Autobot noble. Sam held on, knowing it would take mere seconds for Mirage to ask and receive answers, and sure enough Mirage was back online before Sam had taken three breaths.

"Sam, Hound has some free time and intends to go into town to do some people-watching." Mirage's voice held a tinge of amusement: Sam knew that Hound's extreme human-fascination, although lauded by Optimus Prime, had that effect on more than a couple of the 'bots. "Can you meet him in the courtyard in fifteen of your minutes?" Mirage asked.

"Thanks, 'Raj, tell him I'll be there." Sam said, picking up his backpack, throwing out his college assignments and books, and packing a change of clothes and a few more things he thought would come in handy in their place. Once he'd done that, and double-checked what he was and was not bringing, he picked up the cloth, wiped the board clear of Bumblebee's message, and began to write.

Ten minutes later, he was climbing into Hound's front passenger seat and fielding his eager questions about humanity with an easy laugh and a smile. He let nothing of his real intentions out to anybody except for Bumblebee, and even his quickly scrawled note to 'Bee gave no explanation of why.

'**B. Sorry, I had to go, I need to get caught by Decepticons. See you later. S'**


	2. Chapter 2

Taking Liberties.

Chapter One.

Sam waved to Hound, sauntering off with his backpack slung over one shoulder, heading for the main street. He stopped in a couple of shops to buy himself some foodstuffs and some drinks, before heading off to the far end of the town. How he knew the way, he didn't question: the AllSpark Essence knew the right way, and right now Sam was relying on it to guide him. Something told him he could trust it and that it knew more about what was going on than he did. At least he hoped so, because he had staked his life on the feeling he had that it would keep him safe.

He knew that to succeed in his task, he needed to make contact with a certain Decepticon. Whether that Decepticon would listen or not, or would be willing to give the assistance he needed he did not know. At this time it was a moot point, for first he had to get in contact with that Decepticon. Sam had no Decepticon com-codes and couldn't com if he had, so the best way to make contact was to allow one to catch him. And oh yeah, he needed to stay alive long enough to get to the one he needed. How he would do that, he did not know, he just had to hope the Essence did.

Slogging on, he accepted the mute reassurance of the Essence within him as he continued his trek towards the Decepticon base.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Bumblebee sauntered down towards the room he shared with Sam when Sam stayed at the base, wondering what Sam would want to do that day. He walked into the room and saw the board.

An astrosecond later, every 'bot on the Base was left reeling by Bumblebee's top-volume screech of disbelief and confusion.

When they found out the reason for it, they were as baffled by Sam's message as he was.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

"Barricade, is that who I think it is?" Payload asked the police cruiser Decepticon behind him. The two had left their base several minutes earlier to run a patrol. The trine were out flying again, Megatron was out gathering more arrivals from space, and staying in base was boring, so Barricade had decided to take Payload, one of the new arrivals, out on a patrol to allow him to familiarise himself with the local area.

Moving over slightly, Barricade saw what had attracted Payload's attention.

"Yes, Payload, it's the squishy who has caused us so much trouble. He's headed towards us, and he's without his meddling Autobot guardian. We'll never have a better chance. You cut off his retreat, I'll take him."

Payload accelerated, moving beyond the human boy before slamming on the brakes and spreading himself side-on across the road behind him, as Barricade did likewise in front of the boy. The boy looked startled, and Barricade materialised his holoform beside him, solidifying it to grab Sam by his upper arm. He popped open his rear door.

"Get in, fleshling, we need to talk to you about Mission City and Cairo," he said. He pushed Sam towards the rear of his alt, shoving him in with more force than was strictly necessary. He turned away than did a double-take, staring at Sam for a moment. Although the human's face was now straight, he was sure he'd caught a brief grin on his face.

Peeved, he slammed the door shut. He'd never understand these humans, and after a few hours in the cold, damp cell they'd prepared in case they got any human prisoners, he would lose any trace of a grin. He comforted himself with the knowledge that the squishbag certainly wouldn't be smiling once Starscream or Megatron got their hands on him.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Hound waited for Bumblebee and Ratchet to reach him, then told them everything Sam had said and what he had done once they got to town. Nothing Sam had said or done had given Hound any cause for concern.

"He seemed a little tense, but I put that down to meeting Mikaela. He said he was getting her a present he wasn't sure that she would like," the hologram specialist explained.

"Well, let's start looking, if we're lucky we'll pick him up before he does anything silly," Bumblebee fretted. "Let's see if we can pick up any tracks. Hound, can you call Prowl and review CCTV cameras? I'll look for signs in the direction we suspect the Decepticon Base lies in. Ratchet, can you wait around in case we need you?"

Both Ratchet and Hound agreed, and Bumblebee went off to look for signs.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Barricade and Payload drove in, and Barricade stopped outside a long cinder-block terrace with lockable doors of various sizes. He used his holoform to pull Sam none too gently out, and push him through one of the smaller doors into a small dark cell. Shoving Sam to the floor he picked up a set of manacles on chains that had been cemented into the wall. After a brief struggle he put them around Sam's wrists, pushing the cuffs down the wrists and checking that Sam could not slip his hands out of them.

"We prepared this one in case we had squishy prisoners." he told the boy. "Both Starsceam and Megatron are away at the moment, when one of them gets back I'll tell them you're here. Whichever one gets back first can decide what to do with you." He gave Sam a toothy grin. "I'm sure they both have certain issues with you they will wish to address."

He stepped back with a harsh laugh, closing the door firmly, leaving Sam in almost total darkness. Despite Barricade's checks, he tried himself to squeeze his hands out of the metal circling his wrists but his hands were too large to slip through. He shivered: the cell was cold and slightly damp, and the thought of facing Megatron or Starscream was a prospect he did not relish. He hoped the Essence had something in place to cover a situation like this, for it was likely his life would depend on it.

He crouched close to the wall, on the driest spot he could find, not having enough chain to reach a corner, and curled his arms about his legs, to conserve heat. His eyes stayed fixed on the door as he waited for whoever would walk through the door next. He had faith in the Essence, if he had not, he would not be in this situation in the first place. He believed in what he was doing, he had to.

He was just hoping his faith had not been misplaced.


	3. Chapter 3

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Two.

At some time in the cell, Sam fell into what was more of a trance than a sleep. Part of him was still very aware of his surroundings, but the other part of his awareness was full of images and feelings, suggestions and knowledge. Some of it was the same as he had already been told, a repetition of his dreams, some of it was similar but more in-depth, more detailed, and still more was entirely new information.

Now he was getting technical details on the way some Cybertronians were wired, what was exposed at what seams, and what some things did. A long list of co-ordinates appeared for just a moment, but as they disappeared he became aware that they would be available to him as and when he needed them. Courtesies and gestures were also shown to him, and yet as his mind absorbed the information, his body rested. Anybody looking in at Sam at that point in time would have noticed that he was crouched and perfectly still, as immobile as a statue.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Starscream transformed from jet to robot and landed with his customary grace. He turned to watch as his wingbrothers, who had earlier converted to their bipedal modes also dropped down to land half a wingspan behind him. He nodded and the three walked, still in an arrowhead formation, to their large hangar. They had found a storm to fly against, and they were exhilarated but exhausted.

Starscream was about to move to the refuelling station when he was commed by Barricade. He almost ignored the com, Starscream found the little groundling frontliner arrogant and irritating, but the communication was flagged as being important. Silently vowing to shred a good portion of Barricade's plating should the message not be what he considered important, Starscream irritably waved the other two over to refuel first as he replied to the com, being sure to send a blast of annoyed static down the channel first to express his displeasure.

What Barricade told him made him straighten up.

"You did?" he asked. "What happened?" A pause. "You have him? Good, good, bring him here to us. No, I do _not_ wish to wait for Megatron, Barricade, I can deal with this one myself. Bring him to me now."

He turned to look at his wingbrothers. Thundercracker had just finished filling his tank and was handing over the refuelling wand to Skywarp.

"It seems, brothers, that we missed something while we were storm riding," he told the two. "Barricade has captured the Witwicky fleshling. He has, it seems, been waiting for our return, locked in a cell. I have instructed Barricade to bring him to us." He nodded his head. "Now, we could rough him up a little, make him pay for what happened, what do you two think? And are you going to refuel or not?" he asked Skywarp sourly, who had paused just shy of using the fuelling rod. "I am waiting for that as well, you know."

Abashed, Skywarp stuck the refuelling wand in his vent as Thundercracker spoke up.

"Leader and wing-commander, may I suggest a slight adaptation of your plan? Can't we first show him that we can be polite and civilised?" Thundercracker bent slightly from the waist and neck, letting his wings droop forward in a show of respect.

"Why destroy him just like that, without allowing him to speak and for us to ask questions? I for one would like to know if he truly understands our situation? If he knew about the hatchlings, he may even sympathise."

"So what? Even if he does care, there is nothing he can do." Skywarp said. "However, I agree with Thundercracker, but for my own reasons. It does not mean we cannot have any fun with him, only that we delay it a little so we can demonstrate our manners, show the squishy that we can be polite and kind to those we deem worthy of it." He gave Thundercracker a sharp look. "Not that I think the Witwicky boy worthy, this will just be an example to him that we are not just sparkless monsters."

"I see no harm in it, so I do not see why we should not do as you ask, Thundercracker." Starscream agreed. "We may even get some of our questions answered. He poses no danger to us, so yes, we will treat the human to a show of Cybertronian manners."

Taking the refuelling tool from Skywarp, he put the tip in his own valve and sighed as the fuel began to fill his tank.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Barricade could not quite suppress his grin as he acknowledged Starscream's order. He hadn't expected Starscream to wait for Megatron, for nobody could say if he would be back in hours, days, weeks or months. Of course, if Starscream killed the fleshy, and Megatron was angry about it, Barricade would get the satisfaction of seeing Megatron take it out on the arrogant Seeker, but Megatron could be equally as pleased to not have to worry about said fleshy meddling in any more of his plans.

Either way, the annoying human insect would finally have been dealt with.

He opened the lock and pulled open the door, peering in to see the human slowly turning towards him from his crouched position , eyes narrowed as he squinted against the light. Barricade activated his holoform, who undid the manacles about his wrists, then dissolved the holoform, reaching in to seize Sam with one clawed hand about the body with a laugh.

"Starscream is back, fleshling, and he wants to talk to you." he told the human boy, then ignoring Sam's yells and flailing limbs, headed towards Starscream's hangar.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Back at the Autobot base, Bumblebee's circuits fizzed with worry as all the evidence gathered suggested that Sam had indeed achieved his aim of being captured by the Decepticons.

Bumblebee had only been able to track Sam as far as the main road, for there the dirt and grass wore out and the asphalt did not take tracks well. Upon returning, dispirited, to the Autobot base, he had gone to see how Hound was doing. Until then, he had found nothing, but then Hound had picked up grainy footage showing Sam heading in the direction of where the Autobots suspected the Decepticons had set up a Base.

When Hound came across the footage on the road showing Sam being blocked in by a Police cruiser and security van, and being pushed into the back of the cruiser, they knew that Sam had been picked up by Barricade. Nobody could understand why Sam had sought out this capture, but they all knew it was now up to them to devise a plan to rescue him.

Prowl and Optimus joined them, with a few others, and they started to come up with ideas.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

When Barricade commed Starscream, Starscream told Thundercracker to crank open the big doors to let the frontliner in. Once they were open wide enough to admit the smaller Decepticon, he entered.

"I have the squishy here for you." Barricade said, holding out his hand, Sam dangling from it. Casually he tossed Sam into the air a few feet: he cried out but Barricade caught him easily in the other hand. "What do you want me to do to him?"

"Put him down, Barricade, we want to ask him questions, not force him to regurgitate his stomach contents," Starscream said. Barricade gave Starscream a strange look, but did as Starscream asked and took a step back, not wanting to leave, instead hoping to be able to see what would happen.

Sam, rubbing his chafed wrists, managed to gain his balance and looked up at the three Seekers.

"Sam, would you like something to eat?" Thundercracker, who was now seated, asked.

"Uh, if it's available, yeah," he asked.

"What would you like? Within reason? Remember, what we can get is limited," Starscream asked smoothly.

"Um…Pizza and some soda?" Sam asked hopefully. He had no idea why the Decepticons seemed to be being so hospitable, but while they were, he was determined to take advantage.

His stomach growled hungrily and he blushed with embarrassment. The Seekers all looked at each other tolerantly, and then Starscream waved a hand towards Barricade.

"You've got a believable holoform and an acceptable vehicle. Go and get Sam a pizza, Barricade, with all the toppings - unless there are some Sam doesn't like of course."

"Um, no, I'm good with them all," Sam said.

Barricade stared in disbelief.

"Is this some sort of a _joke_?" he asked. "I take this squishy as a prisoner for you and now you want me to run _errands_ for him?"

"Barricade, don't question my orders, just carry them out," Starscream said, his voice going harsh. "Go and get Sam a big pizza, and all the toppings."

"And a bottle of soda," Thundercracker added helpfully. Barricade threw first the Seekers and then Sam a venomous look before replying "At once, Leader Starscream," and stalking out of the hangar. A few moments later they heard him roar off.

"Come closer, Sam," Starscream said, beckoning. "No, you're still too far away, that's it, a bit closer." Sam moved in as requested until Starscream nodded to him.

"Sit down, Sam, because I think we all need to have a talk, about Mission City and Cairo," the silver, tattooed Seeker stated. As he did so, Sam noticed that although all three were covered in slashes and glyphs in black, one of the other two had a metallic blue base colour, while the third had a purple background.

"Um…okay, but I'm not sure what to say about Mission City and Cairo. I know you're probably kind of pissed at me about that, but I was fighting for my life and that of my species in both cases." he said.

"The Cube, the AllSpark, Sam, do you know what it was to us?" the blue one asked. As if reading his mind, the blue Seeker indicated his own chest and then gestured towards the purple robot. "I'm Thundercracker by the way, and over there is Skywarp."

"Um, thanks." he said. "And to answer your question, no, at the time I had no idea, but now I do. It was how you reproduced, and all I can say is that I'm sorry about that but I can't turn back time." As Sam's gaze drifted over to Skywarp he had a sudden realisation that this was the Decepticon he needed to make contact with, and earlier in the cell, the Essence had given him information that gave him an idea about how to go about this. However, that would have to be dealt with later. "I really am sorry." he reiterated. "I guess that means you can't have any more sparklings." I… I guess you too were fighting for the survival of your race."

"The second time around, at least." Thundercracker said. "If The Fallen had managed to activate the Sun Harvester, the energon gained would have nourished these." Thundercracker's optics glowed and then they projected an image of rounded blue cocoons, each with a glistening shape curled up inside.

Sam almost startled, because they looked just like an image from his dreams, but he decided not to bring those into the conversation unless he needed to. He wanted at least one surprise he could pull on them if he needed to.

"What are they?" Sam asked.

"Sparklings, Sam, baby Cybertronians, stored in energon cocoons, until the energon supply is plentiful enough to let them hatch and feed. Had the Sun Harvester been activated, they would have been out and thriving by now," Thundercracker explained.

"However, because of your interference, they will wither and die, the energon they were enclosed with is almost all gone. With the AllSpark gone, they are the last sparklings." This was Skywarp, who glared at Sam before turning his face away.

"I got the pizza and soda. Here." said Barricade, who was standing in the doorway. He walked over to Sam, put the box and drink down in front of Sam. "I hope the condemned enjoys his last meal." he said nastily before turning away and walking out.

"Condemned?" Sam asked nervously.

"Come now, Sam, you can't imagine that after all this we'll just allow you to walk away, especially in light of what we've told you." Starscream explained.

Sam looked at the pizza, suddenly having lost much of his appetite, but then began eating. With the information imparted to him by Thundercracker, the information the Essence had given him began to make some sort of sense. He now had a clearer idea of what he needed to do, and how he would achieve it, and he would need all the strength he could get. He was thankful that the Seekers allowed him to eat without interruption.

Once he had finished, he stood.

"Look, I know that you're going to kill me, and I guess you feel it's fair, after all, I destroyed your AllSpark and stopped you saving the sparklings, or hatchlings, or whatever you call them, and accept this. Can I ask for one final request?"

"That depends," Starscream said. "What is it?"

"Can I tell each of you one or two secrets, just to have someone else to pass them on to?" he asked.

"That seems a reasonable request." Starscream said.

Sam shouldered his backpack back on, which he'd removed in order to eat. He wandered over to Starscream and beckoned him down. Starscream crouched, and Sam cupped his hand round his mouth, and spoke into Starscream's audio.

"Mikaela and I had sex for the first time this year. We were both virgins."

He moved over to Thundercracker next, who mimicked Starscream's actions. Sam spoke directly into his audio too.

"Mikaela is pregnant with my child. She's in hiding under a new name somewhere even I don't know." San held his hands twelve inches apart. "Humans are born about this big, then they grow."

As Thundercracker straightened up, using two of his own big fingers to measure out twelve inches and muttering "So tiny!" Sam moved over to Skywarp. The purple Seeker bent down as the other two had, but Sam did not immediately approach. Instead, something the Essence had shown him came to mind, and he bent double at the waist, his head hanging down and his arms spread to either side of his head, index fingers almost touching the ground. Then he rotated his hands so the palms faced Skywarp, who stared.

"That is the non-Seeker-to Seeker respect bow." he said in surprise. "That is a Cybertronian courtesy-move. Where did you learn that? Optimus? Bumblebee?"

"No, but if you come closer, I'll tell you." Sam coaxed. Skywarp crouched down even lower, and Sam pushed up close against him, whispering very quietly into Skywarp's audio.

"I can save those sparklings. And you are going to help me."

As he said this he grabbed hold of Skywarp's neck ridge and jumped, anticipating Skywarp's next move. As he had expected, Skywarp straightened up, bringing the exposed cables at the back of his neck within Sam's grasp as he wedged himself behind a wing flap as he secured his grip. Pulling at one as the Essence had instructed him to, he found a small switch, like one that the Essence had shown him in his dreams. Flipping this opened a panel in Skywarp's helm.

As Skywarp cried out a blue energy surrounded the Seeker and his human passenger. As both Starscream and Thundercracker rushed to aid their terrified wingbrother, they hit the energy field and bounced off.

By now, Sam's hands were inside Skywarp's helm, altering connections and switching circuits as the Essence was instructing.

"He - he's _overriding_ me!" moaned Skywarp. "I - I can't move!"

For a moment, Skywarp froze. Sam grabbed hold of a wing before reconnecting a final wire.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then both Skywarp and Sam, enclosed in their energy field, disappeared with a pop of displaced air.

For a moment there was only a shocked silence, then Starscream yelled in anger and fear.

"No! Bring him back!" He turned to the shaking Thundercracker.

"He's gone! The Witwicky boy has gone, and Skywarp with him! I don't know how, but somehow Sam has _kidnapped_ Skywarp!"


	4. Chapter 4

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Three.

The Autobots were halfway through preparation and planning, working out how to approach the Decepticons and get Sam back safely when Cliffjumper, who had been left manning communications contacted them.

"Sir, the Decepticons are asking to speak to you. It's Starscream on the line, and he seems agitated."

"Tell him I'll speak to him in a moment, I'll speak to him using the viewscreen," Optimus said. Looking at Ratchet, Optimus muttered "This is interesting. Let's see what he has to say."

He walked in and signalled Cliffjumper to turn on the communications system and viewscreen. The red mech nodded and did so.

Starscream's face almost filled the screen, his optic shutters flickering across his optics rapidly in distress.

"Where is he? Tell him to let Skywarp go, and let him come back to us!"

"Who?" asked Optimus.

"Your squishy pet Sam! He jumped on Skywarp and he - he manually overrode him! He's kidnapped him, just taken control as if he were a mere drone! Tell him to let him go, he's safe now, he has no need to keep him!" Starscream drew in a few vent's worth of air. "_Please_?"

"As far as we were aware, it was two of _your_ mechs who took _Sam_," Optimus stated. "Leader Starscream, we were about to contact you to arrange to negotiate with you for Sam's safe return." Optimus watched Starscream's face closely, but no, his level of distress was not feigned, and Starscream had nothing to gain, so far as Optimus could see, by lying. "You say he has left, with Skywarp, who is under his control somehow? However, Sam has not returned here, as you obviously thought he had."

"Then where _is _he?" cried Starscream, drawing back a little to reveal a distressed-looking Thundercracker hovering nearby, listening in.

"That is what we must find out," Optimus said. "As we are both missing people, and they are likely to be together, may I suggest we met up and pool our knowledge? Sam left a cryptic message for us, and it may be he said something to one of you - or something you said made him act the way he did."

Starscream opened his mouth to protest, but Optimus held up a hand and continued to speak.

"Whatever his reasons, it may be that we both hold separate pieces to the same puzzle. If we combine our knowledge and ideas, we may be able to work out what he's doing, why he's doing it, and perhaps where he's gone. From the information we have, we think Sam may have specifically been trying to contact one of you, the likelihood is that that somebody is Skywarp. It is likely, therefore, that where we find one, we will be likely to find the other."

"Your suggestion, much as I dislike it, unfortunately makes sense," Starscream said after a moment's pause. "Thundercracker and I will set off in a few moments, one of us will ask Barricade to follow."

"Please ask those you leave at your base to alert you should they return, and we shall inform you if they return here," Optimus suggested.

"Very well, but I had already thought of that. Please do not try and tell me how to run my own base. We may be at ceasefire for this particular situation, but _don't push it_," Starscream said, a sharp-edged pointed finger looming large on the screen. Then the screen blanked as the communication was abruptly severed from Starscream's side.

"Well, that could have gone better," commented Cliffjumper from the communications console.

"Indeed, Cliffjumper, but I am not about to complain," Optimus replied. "After all, it could also have gone very much worse."

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

There was neither sound nor sight in the instants after they winked out, even Skywarp's cry was cut off and replaced with nothing, but just when Sam was beginning to think something had gone wrong, the blackness ended, replaced by the view of a horizon and the sky.

Wherever they were, it was not on Earth, and Sam wasn't even sure they were in the same solar system anymore, something the Essence confirmed wordlessly.

The surface they stood upon was barren and cold, and Sam had a feeling that if the energy field produced by the Essence - which he could see as a slight scintillating blueness - hadn't been there he'd be frozen and dead on this frigid, airless world. At first he wondered if they'd reached their destination, but as he saw another list of co-ordinates materialise in his head and briefly appear in his field of vision, he realised this was just a brief stop-off.

"Where are we?" came Skywarp's frightened voice. "I can't warp this far, my ability has it's limits!" the Seeker said as Sam gripped the wing firmly.

They winked out before Sam could even draw breath to answer.

They had two further brief stop-offs, during which Sam had time to ponder Skywarp's question. He came to a conclusion just as the Essence informed him that they had reached their destination.

"Skywarp, the AllSpark Essence is in me, perhaps its power has augmented your ability so you can get this far, otherwise I'd expire of old age before we got anywhere. As it is, it seems we're here," Sam said, then opened his eyes and stared.

All around them were weird and wonderful spirals and globes of plant matter, and a flock of four-winged blue furred creatures were circling high above. The vegetation was primarily a reddish colour, although there were flashes of yellow and spikes of blue that Sam could not have told if they were foliage or exotic alien flowers. He could see moisture adhering to some of it, and iridescent insect-equivalents darting around.

"Oh _shit!_"he swore. "Okay, Skywarp, we're _not _finished, it looks as if we've got some more travelling to do," he told him as he felt more co-ordinates form in his grey matter. "Hang on to your tailfins, we can't do anything here."

"Why not?" asked Skywarp.

"Because if we did, we'd be breaking the Prime Rule," Sam said before with a further muted pop they were underway again, headed for the new co-ordinates.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Five days later.

"If only we could have heard what he said to Skywarp, we might be able to work it out!" Starscream said. "We know he _wanted_ to get caught now, probably to make contact with Skywarp. Then he took him, for reasons unknown, to who knows where? Skywarp's warping ability is limited to a few kilometers, so he must be on the surface of this dirtball _somewhere_, but there's been no sign of either of them."

"We've had several purported sightings of Sam, but all of them, when followed up, have been cases of mistaken identity," Ratchet said. "We managed to get information on his bank card usage, but there have been no withdrawals made from his account since he left the Base to get caught. I hate to be a pessimist, but are we sure anymore that they are even still alive?"

"Oh they're _alive_ still," Starscream said confidently. "Thundercracker and I would know if Skywarp died, we are bonded to him. If he were free to return to or communicate with us, he would have done so, but he has done neither, so we can only summarise from this that Sam, also, is still alive."

"So, we're not much further along than we were to start with," Optimus mused.

"Didn't you say that Sam and Skywarp glowed towards the end?" asked Bumblebee. "Could you tell us about that?"

"Very well," Thundercracker stated, and began to describe what had happened once Sam had jumped onto Skywarp's neck joint. When he had finished, Bumblebee was practically twitching with excitement.

"Were either of you running any sort of scan at the time, energy readings or light spectra or anything of that sort?" he asked.

"Yes, I believe I was, a background energy scan, the control for an experiment I was planning to engage in," Starscream said. "Why do you ask?"

"Can you access the results of it? Specifically, isolate anything that resembles AllSpark energy?" At Starscream's strange look, Bumblebee shrugged.

"Sam wasn't even _scorched_ by the energy released, while it ravaged Megatron's circuitry and Spark," Bumblebee explained. "He was glowing blue, a colour associated with AllSpark activity." He shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong, but it can't hurt to _look_, right? If I'm wrong, your scan will show no AllSpark activity." He raised his hands to his shoulders, fingers spread and palms-up, and cocked his head to one side with a querying sound.

"I guess it can't hurt, and it might at least get this hair-brained idea out of your processors." He blew air through his vents in a sound humans would have interpreted as rude. "AllSpark energy indeed. The AllSpark's been destroyed and that is all Sam's fault!"

Bumblebee opened his mouth to defend Sam, then noticed Starscream's optics flash as he accessed his scan results, and held his peace. For a moment there as silence, bar the sound of Starscream reviewing the results, and then Starscream gave a warble of surprise.

"The energy - it _did_ register as AllSpark energy! How could I have missed it?" He turned to look first at Bumblebee and then at Optimus Prime.

"It explains the one thing I could not understand, how Sam could take control of Skywarp against his will," Starscream muttered half to himself. "He's a human, primitive, backwards, he doesn't know how Cybertronians work. However, if the AllSpark was directing him, or even perhaps _controlling_ him, it would make perfect sense."

Nodding his head as if making up his mind, he looked at the assembled mechs, his sweeping gaze catching their optics, and the mechs all turned to look at him. Starscream, ever the performer, spread his arms and raised his head, ensuring that every optic was on him, every audio waiting to hear what he next had to say. Spreading his fingers, he addressed them all.

"I think that we must now act on the premise that in effect, Sam _is _the AllSpark."


	5. Chapter 5

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Four.

Three Days Later.

As they appeared on a world in the sixth system they had investigated in three days, Sam hoped that this one would be more suitable than the last ones. Of the six solar systems they had been given co-ordinates for, three had possessed planets that had life forms of one kind or another on them. One of them looked as if it had been colonised by a space-faring race, while the other two seemed to have developed life naturally. All three systems, however, were thus out of bounds for Sam, Skywarp, and the Essence's plans.

Of the other two, one had once borne life but no longer did, the scars on one planet suggesting that the world had ether been pulverised by a barrage of meteors, or had obliterated itself in a cataclysmic conflict. Neither of the other two had ever borne flora or fauna on any of their worlds, but Sam had dismissed these three as well. The suns they orbited were small, dull-red suns, and Sam could only suppose that when the co-ordinates were gathered, the suns had been yellow, like that of Earth, or at least younger and brighter. These old, tired stars were of little use now.

Sam swore as he opened his eyes and looked around. The world itself was barren, but the obviously artificial structure floating above indicated that once again, life existed in some form in this solar system as well. Sam's food had run out the day before, he was hungry and tired and fed up. The Essence could keep him functioning, but could not sate the growling of his stomach.

As he felt the Essence lining up yet another set of co-ordinates, he stopped it with a thought. He didn't want to spend the next few days warping from one unsuitable world to another. He wondered if he could narrow down the available co-ordinates. Okay, they needed a star, not too old a star, and one with at least one planet orbiting it, and not containing life. He thought back over his astronomy lessons to see if anything he had learned could help, and then had an idea.

"Okay." he murmured to the Essence. "How many of those co-ordinates are either blue-white stars, lie within a nebula, or both? Remove to the bottom of the list any that satisfy none of those two criteria, and any that satisfy both, move to the top of the list."

He felt the Essence do as he asked, and as a new set of co-ordinates formed in his mind he dipped his hand back inside Skywarp's helm and said "Okay, here we go again."

A few moments later, the surface of the world was once again undisturbed.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Three days after Bumblebee and Starscream had worked out that Sam's organic form now housed the AllSpark, they were still no closer to working out where he had gone with Skywarp or why.

There was, of course, an outside chance that they had returned to Cybertron to rebuild it from the ruins, but Optimus had dismissed that one straight away.

"I think Sam would have at least mentioned it to someone here, that had been _our _original intention. Why would he keep that a secret?"

"Do you think that Sam is planning something illicit, or what some might consider immoral?" asked Starscream. As Bumblebee bristled, his optics flashing angrily, Starscream said "Calm down! I'm not accusing him of anything, just trying to think of every possibility."

"Sam would not do anything immoral." Bumblebee stated.

"So overriding Skywarp and taking him against his will _isn't _wrong?" Thundercracker asked sharply. Bumblebee looked at Thundercracker, then lowered his head and his doorwings with a whine.

"I-no, I can't condone that." he said miserably. "Neither can I explain it. It isn't something I ever thought Sam might do."

"Perhaps it isn't something he would _usually_ do." Optimus stated. "Perhaps it is something he is either doing at the AllSpark's request, or..," Optimus tailed off.

"Or what?" asked Starscream.

"Or it's to do something that Sam considers so important that to _not_ do it would be the greater wrong," Optimus replied.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

They emerged on the surface of a smooth world, newly enough formed to not yet have formed seas and land, but formed long enough that the surface beneath Skywarp's feet was not still molten. A big bright blue-white sun dominated the horizon, it's light bleaching the surrounding air and ground of colour. Dipping his hands into Skywarp's helm again, Sam got the Seeker to scan the four planets that comprised the sun's solar system for life. The readings came back negative.

"Nebular systems. The birthplace of stars." Sam said, repeating some of the text from one of his textbooks. "A blue-white star, several thousand times the size of our little yellow star, and producing several thousands of times the energy our star will produce in their respective lifetimes. Add to that the fact that this star is far younger than that of Earth, and what do you think that means, Skywarp?" Sam asked as he made a further adjustment to the inside of the Seeker's helm before flipping the panel closed.

"Do I care about anything except that you've disabled my warping ability?" Skywarp asked in irritation. "Why have you done that?"

"Because I do not mean this to be a suicide mission, I'm not having you vamoose while I do what I need to here," Sam replied.

"Vamoose?" Skywarp asked in confusion. Sam sighed.

"It's a slang term meaning to leave. I don't want you warping off without me. Anyway, we're here."

He slid down Skywarp's shoulder to his hip, then jumped to his knee and slid to the ground as Skywarp watched. He stood and spread his arms in the air.

"Look at the size of that sun, Skywarp! Did you know that this planet is as far from its star as Pluto is from our sun? "Sam asked, turning on the spot with a smile on his face. "Yet this solar monster is still the biggest and brightest thing in the sky. Isn't it amazing?"

"If you say so, human," sighed Skywarp, resigning himself to not being able to leave until this annoying fleshling would allow it. Sam turned and looked at him.

"Oh come on, Skywarp, we're the first people to set foot on this world. Don't you find it incredible?"

"I've set foot on many worlds, both with and without life." Skywarp told him. "My greatest regret is ever setting foot on your mudball of a world. If I hadn't done so, I wouldn't _be_ here!"

"I guess if you've done it before it's nothing special to you." Sam said, his enthusiasm ebbing in the face of Skywarp's cynicism. He took off his backpack and took out the almost-full bottle of water he'd been rationing, taking a sip of the precious liquid within before returning it to the bag.

"Sam, what is so good about being the first form of life, intelligent or otherwise, ever to land on this planet? All it means is that there is nobody and nothing to witness your arrival. I could show you more interesting worlds, Sam if you'd let me," he coaxed, hoping to tempt the human to take them back to something approximating civilisation. If Skywarp could satisfy Sam's wanderlust, perhaps the human would take them back to Earth, or maybe Skywarp could at least slip from his control.

Sam shook his head.

"No, Skywarp, this place is perfect for our purpose precisely because it has not yet developed any life. Of course, it never will once we're done with it, but I can't spare it just because it _might_ bear life in a few hundred millennia. Other lives are at stake."

"Sam, what are you talking about?" Skywarp asked, but Sam had already turned away from him, side-on to that blazing orb in the sky. He raised his arms again as Skywarp watched, and then the Seeker looked away as Sam himself seemed to ignite with blue light.

Like magnesium held in a flame, Sam seemed to flicker briefly before the pulsing blue haze engulfed his form. Raising a hand to his face and peering through the fingers, Skywarp squinted to see what was happening to the human.

Sam himself was invisible within the scintillating corona that had engulfed him, but Skywarp could see that a thick tendril of the same energy had jumped from the incandescent form to strike a huge, relatively flat smooth slab of recently-cooled rock. A larger expanding, pulsing globe of energy had formed at that end, and as Skywarp watched, he could almost see hints of what was being formed within the raw sphere of energy. There were glints of silver, smooth metal surfaces, jagged spikes, but Skywarp could not work out what the whole structure was. It looked to be the size of a small human city. Had Sam brought him here to create a huge sculpture?

Still it grew, and Skywarp was beginning to wonder if Sam was trying to turn the planet into an approximation of Cybertron when the light faded to reveal what looked like nothing less than a gigantic metal flower bud. The tip projected several hundred metres up into the sky, and at its widest point, it was almost as wide as it was high.

Looking back towards the human, Skywarp could see that the glow had faded but was not completely gone. Then from the waning oval of light surrounding the boy came another flash of light, one which struck the enormous bud, which quivered. For a moment nothing more happened, then there was a sharp crack like a gunshot, and the immense metal 'petals' began to open.

The great metal plates shifted and seams began to open and widen. The outer leaves spread outwards and down, revealing further structures deeper in, tall and gleaming, pointed indeed like the towers and spires of some fantastic futuristic city. In the middle rose a platform, with similar but smaller pinnacle-like structures arranged on it, the light from the blue sun falling upon them, and running like liquid fire down their length, and only then did Skywarp recognise what he was seeing, and he stared in awe and astonishment.

Its very size had been a part of what had prevented him from recognising what it was initially, that and it's bud-like passive mode. Now it was open and almost ready for activation, Skywarp could now recognise the structure as a Sun Harvester, but it was immense. He supposed it made sense that a huge and powerful sun would need an equally large machine to take in and process its energy.

As the energy and the tendril connecting the human and the harvester faded and died, he saw the light around the human dim and subside. He was close enough to Sam to see that the human looked unwell even by Cybertronian standards. Channelling that amount of energy must have been a draw on the boy's own systems. His skin was dry and cracked, and had an odd, unhealthy-looking grey pallor to it. The rims of his eyes were red, and his face and body were much gaunter than when he had started. His hands hung bonily from sleeves that seemed too big for his skinny limbs, and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. His chest heaved up and down as he noisily drew breath.

For a moment, his eyes met Skywarp's optics, and then Skywarp lunged to catch him as the human abruptly seemed to collapse. Feeling the AllSpark Essence's control on him weaken, Skywarp scanned the boy at the same time as he carried out pre-flight checks and sent a com to his wing brothers.

The boy seemed weakened, and was severely dehydrated, but not in any immediate danger of death, and the air in the field the Essence had erected round him seemed to be being continually renewed. He carefully lowered the human to the ground, lying him on his side in the shade thrown by the immense mechanism, and stood again, looking away from the human to the open sky above. Skywarp's warping ability was still disabled, but he could at least still fly. Shedding his Earth-alt kibble, he activated his space-going mode, and blasted off into the air, heading for space.

When Sam awoke, Skywarp was long gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Five.

Sam looked around in disbelief at the deserted, desolate land around him. The pile of discarded kibble-plating and the scorch marks on the rock killed any hope that Skywarp had merely walked out of sight.

He realised he had a raging thirst and reached for his backpack, finding the water bottle inside. He gulped over half of it thirstily before he remembered it was the last of the water he'd brought, and it was unlikely he'd find any more on this world. _'Well,' _he thought, _'best that all this not be in vain.'_ The Harvester still needed a few slight adjustments, and although some of them would be difficult for him in his current weakened state, he could do it. Shouldering his almost empty backpack again, he headed towards the Harvester. He may as well start with the easy bits first and work up to the more difficult bits.

The easy bits, Sam mused as he stared up at the platform bearing the finer array, would take some getting to, as they were a lot higher up than he was, Luckily, the way the harvester was arrayed and it's sheer size did mean that there were plenty of fairly substantial hand and foot holds. Sam sighed, hoping his sore body would be able to cope with a bit of Harvester mountaineering.

Reaching for the first useable handhold, he gripped on and began to make his way up.

It took almost two hours with frequent stops, and the rest of his water, but Sam finally reached the platform. Where the strength had come from for his ascent, Sam was unsure, but could only assume it was help from the Essence. Even now it seemed to be helping him, his senses seemed more alert than he was used to, he could see more clearly, hear more acutely, better than he ever had before. He moved towards one of the smaller antennae of the array, and placing his hands around it, exerted a little force to one side.

The antenna rotated far more easily than he had expected, and he moved to the one next to it. This was not a matter of twisting but of tilting it more towards the array's centre. With each of the twenty or so antennae on the raised platform, he tilted or twisted each one, with the exception of two on the outer edge and one in the centre.

When he had finished, three hours and several more rests later, his clothes were damp with sweat. With no more water to replace the lost fluid, Sam was feeling dizzy. He sat just aside from the shade of the central antenna, allowing the harsh sun to evaporate the fluid from his clothing. He then moved into the shade, changing his stiff, reeking clothing for the spare set he had in his rucksack. In the process he found a half-squashed, half-eaten forgotten sausage roll that had fallen into one of the folds of his spare T-shirt. Despite the dry pastry, and his lack of water, he wolfed it down hungrily.

He then rested a further ten minutes before he felt able to begin the climb back to ground level. Of the antennae down at ground level, only the smallest eight near the centre and another, larger set of eight on the periphery needed adjusting, but with a Harvester of that size, the 'smallest' was still wider around than Sam's arms could reach.

He supposed he should feel grateful that the antennae had such ease of motion and the motion was so smooth. Add to that, that once he started them moving, they moved easily. However, with antennae of such size, he hoped he could get the necessary leverage to move them in the first place. Inertia would take care of the rest.

Climbing down was a little less wearing than climbing up, but Sam was very glad he'd not left the middle platform till last. Down here in the thick of the lower section of the antenna forest there was plenty of shade. As Sam had feared, the lower inner antennae were so wide that he could not get his arms entirely around him, but it turned out he didn't need to. Hugging the antenna as best as he could and using his upper body to twist was enough to start an antenna turning, and for tilting, bracing his back against the antenna and pushing against it, feet braced on the ground, served to tilt them enough. After another three hours, the inner bottom array was adjusted as required, according to the Essence, and now Sam only needed to adjust the last eight spires.

'_Only,' _Sam thought to himself wryly. The eight antennae he needed to tilt inwards were all around the harvester's outer rim, a rim whose circumference must have measured over a mile. Sam felt almost unable to walk another few metres, much less a mile or more, but he forced himself to trudge forward, even though his mouth was dry, his throat screamed for moisture, his skin was red and peeling, his feet felt like they weighed a ton each, and the sun was setting. A third of its diameter had already disappeared below the horizon, and in a few hours, Sam would be working blind.

He reached the first of the eight, a towering silver spike as wide around as some of the giant sequoia trees he had once seen in one of the national parks as a child. He was very glad none of these required any twisting, he could not have gotten enough leverage to do so. Bracing his back against the silver structure, he pressed his feet to the ground and pushed with all his strength. It wasn't enough, he knew it wasn't enough. He was too weakened.

For the first time since he had begun this important task, Sam felt discouraged and totally defeated. It had been a ridiculous idea anyway, he should have found a way to tell the Decepticons, Skywarp would not have been so weakened by hunger, dehydration, and sheer exhaustion. He would die here, and in his far-off solar system, beyond the moons of Saturn, so would thousands of thousands of cocooned sparklings.

As Sam passed out, his last thought was that he had been given a vital task, and that he had failed.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOoo Oo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

It was so faint and garbled that Starscream, halfway in to recharge, almost missed it. However, his systems, alert for any communication from his missing wing brother, picked it up and he jolted fully aware, sitting up and cracking his helm hard on the canopy of the recharge unit he was lying on in the process.

He ignored the ringing this produced, recording and amplifying the message, trying to use various filters and boosters to weed out the intervening interference and clarify what was being said. Once he had done all he could, he listened to it again. What he heard had him yelling for Thundercracker and Optimus Prime.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Sam roused shortly after, determined to try again, His own life was no longer important, from the moment he had found Skywarp gone he had known that his own fate was sealed. With no food, and more importantly, no water, on a planet that would, if things worked out, even lose the energy of it sun, his chances of survival for more than a day or so were zero. However, if the last of his life brought life to others, it would be worth it. If he could not, it would be a wasted loss of life.

He staggered to his feet and braced his back against the spike again, He pushed, but there was nothing. No, he corrected himself, it felt as if just a little more pressure would set the spire into it's pre-set tilt. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed again. A groan escaped his parched mouth, and he briefly recalled hearing that the effect of a shout could help the body, by triggering an extra spurt of adrenaline. This would release a little more strength to push, pull or otherwise do want was needed. He had nothing to lose by trying.

His first attempt was little more than a hoarse croak, but his second attempt was more respectable. He focused on the task, feeling nothing but the spire at his back, his feet on the ground and hearing nothing except his shout, as he pushed. When the engine noise became audible, Sam did not hear it, so intent was he on his task. He thought he felt the spire shift slightly as he pushed. Then he felt the sun's heat blocked out as a shadow fell over him at the same time as the spire suddenly moved. Off-balance, he fell backwards as he opened his eyes.

He found himself looking at a metallic silver bipedal figure, which was just releasing its grip on the spire, which was now at the correct angle. The figure crouched down, and Sam saw a hatch on one wing open. From the hatch trickled a clear, sparkling fluid, which splashed onto his face. He sputtered as some went into his mouth and swallowed, relishing the moisture, and Sam strained his head up, mouth open to catch more as he realised it was water, clear, warm but much welcome _water!_

As the figure bent forwards to help Sam catch the water, his brain caught up with the images his eyes were feeding it, and he realised it was Skywarp. For what reason, Sam didn't care. All that mattered was that the Seeker had returned, and with water.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOO

"Starscream, you say you have received a communication from Skywarp. Can you tell us if it holds any information relevant to us?" asked the Autobot leader once he, Prowl, Thundercracker, and Starscream had gathered in the small conference room. The two had both received the same message, and although there as still a lot of interference, by combining what they both had, much of the communication was understandable.

"I shall do better than that. I shall replay you the message," the silver Seeker stated.

Starscream had thought briefly of outlining the message himself, but the content was all relevant, and he felt it would be best if they heard it themselves. After all, he hadn't quite believed it himself when he'd heard it.

Starscream began to replay the message.

"_Skywarp calling Starscream and Thundercracker. Sam and I have- (interference) -reat deal of time visiting other worl-(interference) -her stars. I cannot tell-(interference) -act location as I have no point of refer- interference) -o triangulate (interference) -it is very distant from- (interference) -lar system of Earth. Sam has- (interference) -llSpark Essence in him, a- (interference) -uilt a - no, I- (interference) -eed the details now and might think I've gone mad. (interference) -at Sam promised me I'd help him save the hatchlings, and I believe him. Sam himself I-(interference) -go and search for something he needs. Wit-(interference) -soon return. Skywarp out."_

Starscream let the message repeat twice, then turned it off.

"Starscream, could you work out the message's origin point? Perhaps we could go and see if there is any aid we could render?" Optimus asked.

"I thought of that and yes, I did work out the origin point." Starscream said, and rattled off a long sequence of co-ordinates. As the others began working it out, Starscream spoke again.

"That origin point is on the other side of the galaxy, close to the edge. To get there would take us, at our top speeds, sixty-seven thousand years." He paused. "I think the best thing to do is wait for them to come back to us."

"Indeed," muttered Optimus. He hated to admit it, but the Seeker was right.

All they could do now was wait.


	7. Chapter 7

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Six.

Despite Sam's protests, Skywarp insisted that he have a rest before, together, they finished the adjustments. He enforced it by picking the human up in his hands and carrying him into the shade cast by the harvester, despite Sam's half-hearted protests at such treatment.

"The hatchlings have waited for thousands of years, twelve more hours won't make much difference, Sam, but if _you_ die, I don't know which parts to adjust, or how to start it, whereas the Essence will likely tell you."

"What if it passes to you if I die?" Sam queried.

"What if it doesn't?" countered Skywarp. "No, I don't want to take that risk, Sam, plus it seems a poor way to reward you for trying to save the lives of our hatchlings." He paused, before adding "You know, you didn't have to just take control of me like that, you could have just _asked_."

"Um, yeah, sorry about that but I didn't want to take that risk." Sam said. "Honestly, if I had told you, would you have believed me? Really?"

"Probably not." admitted Skywarp.

Sam merely nodded, his point made.

The Seeker reached into his cockpit and withdrew some odd-looking blueish-green globes, putting the small handful down by Sam. They were about the size of grapefruits and slightly furry to the touch.

"The skin of these is thin, Sam, and my scans indicate that these are safe for you to eat and full of energy-giving substances. Be careful of the seeds, give them and the skins to me so I may fulfil the promise I had to make to get them."

"What are they and where did you get them?" Sam asked before picking up the nearest spherical object - like grapefruit, they were heavy - and sinking his teeth into it.

As Skywarp had promised, the skin of the object was thin although rubbery, and once he managed to pierce the exterior, he felt thick, sweet syrupy liquid ooze into his mouth. He sucked on it greedily, the liquid soothing his raw throat and quelling the rumbling of his stomach. He encountered several large black seeds and put them by his side, so Skywarp could pick them up and put them away somewhere.

As Sam finished it, he carefully lay side the flaccid skin with the remaining pits still inside, and reached for a second one, Skywarp chuckled.

"They are a kind of fruit Sam, and as to where I got them, well, I think it would be best if I explained everything from the beginning, so I'll tell you why I have been away for so long, and where."

As Sam started on his second fruit, Skywarp began his tale.

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Twelve Hours Earlier.

Skywarp felt a little guilty as he soared away from the planet, his scans at maximum as he headed for the outer edge of the planet's system, searching for those pieces of leftover detritus, comets, usually left by the formation of planetary systems around stars. Although there was often rock and dust to cope with, they were often mixed in with exactly what his scans had said Sam was most in need of - water, albeit frozen, or at least something water could usually be separated from.

Of course, not all cometary ice was water, Skywarp reflected sourly after the first three comets turned out to contain more methane ice than anything else. It was then that he noticed the small white star nearby. Focusing his scans on the area, he was rewarded with the information that there were planets around the star. This system was not actually part of the original nebula, it was older than that, but as the nebula had widened, it had engulfed the star in its wispy clouds. Perhaps there, Skywarp thought, he might find the right sort of comet, although to traverse that distance, warping would be handy.

Now that he was away from the meddling human and the Essence he carried, he could gain control of his own systems again. Opening the panel in his head and putting in a finger while running a point-by-point check of his warping technology, he soon found out where the lock had been applied. It was fiddly work, but after a short time he was able to warp again. Setting his warp distance to maximum, he calculated that it would take over a hundred separate warps to get to the system. He hoped it would be worth the effort, it was going to take hours, hours the human might not have. Best to start now then, he decided, and warped.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that he had covered a lot more distance than he thought he would. He wondered if it might be a residual effect of the Essence enhancing his ability for so long, whether it would wear off or be permanent. Whatever it was, he was going to take full advantage of it while he had it. He warped again, and six more warps later, he was at the outer edge of the system. His scans turned up far richer pay dirt than he had at first anticipated.

Not only was the system replete with comets, all potential water sources, but the fifth planet out was rich with plant life and small animal life. The scan also revealed water, real, liquid H2O, and if he was lucky, he might even be able to find some acceptable fuel for the boy to consume. Sam's energy levels were low, and refuelling the human would have been his second priority, but if he could fulfil both needs on the same visit, why not?

Reaching the planet a couple of warps later, he stooped at a body of water and flushed out a spare fuel tank he carried in his left wing, usually used for storing high-grade energon, but that was all gone now and the receptacle stood empty. He made sure that the container was well rinsed out before filling it with the clear water, and as he stoppered it shut, looked around at the brightly coloured plant life around.

It was as varied as it was colourful. Some looked almost flesh-coloured, others were brightly hued. Some clung close to the ground, some wound over other plant life or grew together for support. Some even seemed to almost take root on the animal life, some of the small creatures having so much plant life on them that the creature more resembled a mobile plant then an animal. The plants sported various growths, some thin, others bulbous, and some of them sported outgrowths that almost resembled eyes, if you let your imagination run away with you.

One of these, Skywarp noticed, had round, fuzzy globes that looked like some sort of fruiting body, and a swift scan confirmed that indeed that is what they were. Moving over towards them, he scanned them again, comparing his scans to Sam's readings and his limited knowledge of human physiology. All the readings seemed to suggest that the fruit was not poisonous and in fact full of sugar, which humans seemed to use in their bodies to create energy. This was just perfect!

He stepped forwards, grabbing a handful of the globes, planning to get a couple of handfuls to take back to Sam. To his surprise the vines they were attached to seemed to resist. He dared not squeeze harder for fear that the fruit would burst and be wasted, but he used his other hand to try and snap the attached vines.

The bush seemed to whip into frenzied action, vines without fruit rising to join those with, wrapping around his wrists and his arms and his ankles. He tried to pull loose but the vines seemed very stretchy, and to make things worse, the bushes of the same kind nearby also went on the offensive. For every vine he broke or dislodged, more took their place.

Once he lost his balance, the assault did not stop and the more he struggled, the more he was entwined. Soon he was so wrapped in greenery that he could barely twitch.

He stopped struggling after a while, when it became apparent that his struggles were not helping. Perhaps if he went limp the vines would relax? He noticed as he lay there waiting that several of the eye-like structures were now pointing his way. He recalled how the plants had seemed to all co-ordinate their attacks upon him, and wondered if the eye-resemblance was more than that.

He put his scanners on, monitoring all possible sources of signal, for if the plants had co-ordinated, could it be more than the visual had conveyed? He hoped so, for he was well and truly tangled up. Struggling again he scanned for pheromones, or any other possible mode of communication.

After a while he detected electrical impulses passing between the plants as well as up and down the plants. Had he plenty of time, he might have been able to decipher what they were saying, but that was one thing he did not have. At least it did show that the plants were intelligent, after a fashion. He wondered how intelligent. Could he talk to them using pictures?

Scanning one of the fruits again, he was not surprised to see that they contained seeds, and he made a few basic holograms before going back to his memories of his and Sam's travels. He projected images of a few of the planets he and Sam had been to, showing by terrain and sun type and satellites that each was a different world. He showed them Sam, showed him collapsing and hitting the ground, and drew attention to Sam's dehydrated condition by zooming in on his cracked skin and reddened eyes.

Then he moved on to the holograms.

He had had to resort to a bit of artistic license for he did not know what animal decomposition resembled on this world, or even if the plants would know it for what it was, or even care. He showed them himself in the vines, stuck, then showed them Sam on the planet he had left. He imaged him going brown and yellow, curling up and withering like a branch. He showed himself dying and rusting in the vines. Was it his imagination or did the vines wrapping him seem to shiver?

Then he showed Sam again, and then a hologram of himself, the vines withdrawing and retreating and himself getting up. He was no Hound, by he could do the basics, covering what he needed to via holo image. He showed one of the plants, laden with fruit, and showed himself bowing to it.

Then he showed the plant dropping some fruit at his feet, him gathering them up, and he tried to ignore the pulse that went through the vines wrapping him, one he did not need to translate as being an angry denial. He continued with his image however, showing himself disappearing from their world, reappearing by Sam, Sam drinking the juice and standing up, going greenish blue (the colour Skywarp took for a healthy colour for plants on this world.) He showed himself and Sam going from planet to beautiful planet, all with suns of the same white-yellow spectra as this planet's own, planting the seeds in a well-shaded area with water nearby, showing them leaving to allow them to grow and flourish on a new world.

"So, how about it?" he asked out loud although he had little hope that the plants would understand the spoken word. "You give me some fruit to save Sam's life, in return I plant the seeds in the fruit on other worlds so you can flourish and grow in new soil?"

For a moment there was no response, and Skywarp began to think he'd miscalculated. Maybe the plants reacted by instinct rather than intelligence, or maybe he had not been clear enough with the holograms, or possibly the plants didn't care for the deal. Then he felt the vines begin to loosen and draw away from him.

He raised himself up on his arms, pulled his feet under himself, and stood, as all but a few of the vines released him. Of the few that remained, none clung tightly. He had the impression that had he pulled them off they would have allowed it, for they did not seem to be restraining him. More, he thought, it was like a gentle indication to wait. Skywarp wondered if they were considering his offer amongst themselves, but stood where he was. Although he was impatient, Skywarp chose to await their decision, he needed that fruit for Sam, it would save time if he could get food _and _water for the boy here.

His thoughts were interrupted as a fruit hit the floor by his feet with a soft thump, followed by another and still another. Picking one up and examining it, Skywarp saw that the stalks that had held the fruit on the vines had shriveled and snapped. As he gathered the fruits, he nodded to himself. He supposed the plants had needed time to initiate that process.

Skywarp wasn't sure how much fruit Sam would need, but he did pick up and carefully place in his cockpit all the fruit the plants let drop. It would not be good to seem ungrateful, and even if Sam did not eat them all, he could burst those remaining to disperse the seeds on other worlds. By the time the fruits had stopped dropping, Skywarp's cockpit was two-thirds full of them.

He took two steps back, and the vines that still clung to him slid back and retreated. He noticed all the nearby eye-structures were turned his way. He bowed and raised his hand, and just in case they could hear and understand, he spoke.

"Thank you for your gift. I will plant the seeds, as promised, on suitable worlds when we return to our far-off home." He stepped back towards the lake, and took a leap into the air a second before he ignited his engines, as he did not want to accidentally burn Sam's benefactors to charcoal while taking off.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

"The journey back was much faster, as I was not searching for anything on the return trip," he finished explaining to Sam. "So, we will need to stop off on the way back, looking for suitable worlds, after all, I promised, and they kept their end of the bargain. Is that alright, Sam?" he asked.

His only answer was a soft snore. Looking down at the recumbent human - who already looked healthier, Skywarp noticed - he wondered how much he would need to repeat in the morning.

Using the tips of one finger and a thumb, he removed the flaccid fruit skin with its pips from Sam's slack hands, putting them carefully away in an empty compartment, then curled up around the human, who was so deeply asleep that he didn't even stir.


	8. Chapter 8

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Seven.

A/N: AllSpark Guardians are not canon, but are of my own creation in my version of the TF-verse.

Sam awoke with a groan, realising he had spent the night half-leaning against Skywarp's leg. He was, however, feeing much refreshed for the fluid and food and rest. However, he realised that he was, once again, hungry and thirsty.

Skywarp's optics unshuttered as he registered Sam's groan, and he sat up as the human did likewise and stretched his legs. Sam sat back down, and reached for another of the fuzzy globes nearby, and Skywarp squatted to watch him as he devoured three in quick succession, then asked for some water. Tipping forward and opening the wing-tank again, Skywarp complied. Sam gulped a few double handfuls down before using a little of the precious liquid to give his hands and face a quick clean, wiping them on his T-shirt.

Skywarp asked Sam what he recalled of his explanation, and it turned out Sam had dozed off only about five minutes before Skywarp had finished, so while Skywarp filled him in on what he'd missed, Sam digested his meal of alien fruit pulp and water. After a short time he disappeared behind a rock to deal with one of the messier facets of organic life, and then announced he was ready to finish the resetting of the Harvester.

Skywarp picked Sam up and flew at low-level to the next spire, and together he and Sam pushed against it to put it in position. It was far easier and faster with the assist of the Seeker, and by the time Sam was hungry again, all the spires had been set. Sam had looked at the Harvester, and the Essence had indicated everything was set and ready.

Another two fruits served to refresh the human, although he suspected that by the time they got back to Earth he'd be thoroughly sick of them.

"Sam, the Harvester on Earth was operated by inserting the Matrix of Leadership into a socket designed to take it.," Skywarp stated. "Unless I am much mistaken, that was fused into the structure of the Harvester on Earth when it was destroyed. How will this one be activated without the Matrix?"

"That's a good question," Sam replied, and closed his eyes, his lips silently moving as he asked the Essence within him the question. A moment later he gave a short laugh.

"What's so funny, Sam?" Skywarp asked.

"The Essence's reply," he told the Seeker as he stood. "It seems it decided that as a human was to operate it, it should use a control a human might be more familiar with." He smiled again. "Something called an 'on-off switch', but on a larger scale."

"So where is this 'on-off switch' then?" Skywarp enquired.

Sam pointed to the cluster of spires at the top of the Harvester. "Unfortunately, in the middle of there, and I think the spires clutter the air too much about it for you warping or flying me up there to be a viable option. I think that the bottom spires are clustered too closely about the base for you to give me a hand up too, so it looks like I'll need to climb." He turned back to Skywarp.

"I'm hoping the Harvester will take enough time to power up to allow me to climb back down, but if it shows any sign of reaching full power before I reach you, get yourself away," he said. Skywarp opened his mouth to protest but Sam shook his head.

"Someone will need to be there when the hatchlings begin to leave their cocoons, as some are likely to, I think. Anyway, I volunteered for this, you just got dragged along because you had a special ability I needed to do this. I'd rather _not_ have your death on my conscience, even if I won't be alive to regret it."

"Okay, Sam," Skywarp agreed.

Sam left Skywarp standing by the outer ring of spires and ventured towards the centre again. At Skywarp's request he had taken a fruit with him in his backpack. He began his ascent and took it at a slow and steady pace. Once up the top, he took the fruit out and drank the contents, grateful for Skywarp's foresight in suggesting he take one up as he wrung the skin dry of the last of the juice, careful not to lose the pips, and put it back in his bag.

Moving to the middle of the platform, he looked around once again. The Essence confirmed all was in order, so he moved to the middle, and there at the base of the central spire was a silver lever, sticking up from the junction of the platform and the spire. In the central spire itself was a recess large enough for the lever to lie flat in.

Grasping the top of the lever, Sam pushed it. It moved smoothly, and like the spires, once he set it in motion he had no need to keep pushing it. The lever settled into the recess, and a plate slid over it, leaving no seam. Now it was turned on, the Harvester could not be turned off.

The whole structure shuddered a little, and a quiet hum started up, but apart from that, nothing happened, which was a little anticlimactic. Then came the Essence's silent assurance that the Harvester would not fully activate until he and Skywarp were well clear of the solar system, and that it would then take approximately seven days for the energy to start filling the waiting storage tanks on the Fallen's ship.

Sam began to make his way down again and then threaded his way through the antenna forest, an odd experience as he could feel the entire structure vibrating slightly both as he climbed down and underfoot as he walked. Skywarp was a couple of metres from where he'd left him, waiting, and he all but grabbed Sam, putting him back on his shoulder.

"We'd better go, I don't know how long that monster will take to power up fully, but the sooner we're gone, the better," the nervous Seeker stated.

"No, it's okay, the Essence says that won't happen till we're well clear, and then we have seven days before the energon gets to the hatchlings, which should be long enough to take in the diversions necessary so you can keep your word to our planty friends," Sam said.

They stopped for another two hours, so Sam could have some more fruit and have one last stop-off for necessary biological functions before setting off, after all, Sam had no idea when next there would be an opportunity for a toilet break. Then, making sure they had all the seeds from the consumed fruits, Sam squeezed back onto Skywarp's shoulder. Making sure his human charge was firmly holding on, Skywarp took off. As he did, Sam once again accessed Skywarp's helm panel but instead of flipping any switches he placed his palm flat against them, and the hand began to glow a soft blue. The co-ordinates the Essence was suggesting to Sam flowed into Skywarp's processors, and the Seeker nodded.

"Are you ready?" Skywarp asked. As the Essence-generated energy field popped back up around him, Sam said "Yes, ready."

For a moment, nothing happened, and then the two winked out of sight. The only sound on the planet now was the hum of the Harvester, which began to rise in pitch and volume.

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Several systems along, on the edge of the nebula, Sam and Skywarp looked at the bright point of light that was the doomed sun of the planet they had just left.

"When will it happen?" Sam asked.

"Who knows? The Essence, if anything knows, but it could be happening now and we'd not see anything," remarked Skywarp. We're four light-years from that system, which means that the light we're seeing now is the light from that sun four years ago. We'd have to wait here for four years to see that sun go dark, and that is time we do not have."

"Okay," Sam said, putting his hand against Skywarp's switches again. "Next set of co-ordinates, and then we search for suitable planets for those seeds."

They blinked out as they warped to the next location.

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The journey was mainly uneventful as they headed towards their home system, stopping off on various planets to plant seeds, and for Sam to eat, sleep, and carry out the neccessary ablutions. It was on the fourth night that Sam had a vivid dream.

He saw a city full of metal buildings, some obviously homes, others towers and pinnacles. Dominating much of the city's eastern side was a huge and beautiful dome structure. It gleamed in different shades of gold, silver, gunmetal, copper and bronze and was decorated with what appeared to be coloured glass mosaics, delicate filigree designs, engravings and embossed panels and statuary.

As Sam watched, his focus seemed to zoom towards this building, around which was a clear area free of buildings or vehicles. Within this area, Sam saw figures, mechs and femmes, decorated distinctively with royal blue and gold, some just having both blue and gold trim, others with solid blue paintwork and gold trim. Still others had no trim, but wore blue-coloured silver-edged cloaks that covered their shoulders and fell to their knee servos. All of them carried staffs that appeared ceremonial in colour and decoration, but functional in design. The bottom ended in a lethal-looking spike, the top in a cube. Similar patterned Seekers, four of them, also armed with the staffs, flew back and forth over the dome structure.

As Sam continued to watch, one of these dropped down to speak to one of the figures, who had a gold helm and wider gold trim, whom Sam supposed was some sort of higher rank than the Seeker, for the Seeker bowed to him and spoke.

"Circle Head Steelgrip, AllSpark Guardian Freefall. What is it you require?"

"Bring the next ten prospective Creators through with the bodies they wish enSparked." the Circle Head stated. As the Seeker launched off again, Sam's point of view changed, showing him the inside of the dome structure.

A similar circle of mechs and femmes stood inside. Some of these, too wore cloth instead of paintwork, but here the colours were red and gold. The Circle Head of this, judging by her own gold helm and patterning, appeared to be a large red femme who was almost as tall as the Seeker she was speaking to. The red, gold-edged Seeker nodded, and approached a small line of mechs and femmes outside the circle. None of these had any gold or silver on them, but all carried bodies of various sizes. The red Seeker took the first of these forwards, between two of the figures to bring them into the circle, and only then did Sam see what lay within.

As massive as when he had first seen it within the Hoover Dam, the AllSpark floated a few feet off the floor of the chamber. The Seeker stopped the femme he had escorted in, taking the small, lifeless body she held, and he moved towards it, stopping just in front of it. He knelt on one knee, lowered his head, and raised the body towards the AllSpark. A small blue lightning darted out from the Cube and struck the body, which jerked. Blue optics flared to life and the body twisted and clicked, and moved in the Guardian's upraised hands. He stood, and held the new sparkling out to the femme who had provided the casing for the Spark to go into. She bowed, murmured her thanks, and took the sparkling, hurrying out.

As Sam watched, fascinated, he wondered what he would be shown next. However, as his eyes opened and he saw Skywarp looking at him - he was asleep in the Seeker's hands - he realised he would see no more for he had woken up.

He cursed softly and Skywarp asked "What's up?"

"I was having a fascinating dream but I woke up," Sam said. An odd feeling came over him. "I think it was Essence-induced. I think it's trying to tell me something but as with the dreams that led us here, they rarely seem to be straightforward."

"Tell me about them." Skywarp said. "Maybe I can help?" Sam nodded, and began to relate his dream, and he saw Skywarp nodding once or twice. Once he had finished, Skywarp sat Sam on his leg and said "I can tell you what your dream was of, but not what it means."

"Okay, so what was it?" Sam asked.

"Sam, from your descriptions, the city you saw can only be Iacon, and the building you describe would be the Great Dome of Iacon, in which the AllSpark was housed. "Skywarp said. "The gold-edged ones you describe would be AllSpark Guardians."

Once again, the odd feeling, as if the Essence was trying to draw his attention to something, happened when Skywarp mentioned the AllSpark Guardians.

"Tell me about the AllSpark Guardians." Sam prompted. "Why are there two different liveries? How were they organised? What did they do? What was their function?"

"AllSpark Guardians did, as their name suggest, guard the AllSpark," Skywarp explained. "Originally it was against those of other races, who sought to take it from us, then from some of our own who sought to either possess it for themselves, or eject it into space, or destroy it for whatever reason. Technically they should have been able to guard it from Megatron, but in practice, during Cybertron's Golden Age, the Guardians had become little more than an honour guard."

He paused before continuing.

"The red and blue designates their "Circle." he continued. "Blue is "Outer Circle", the guard circle around the outside of the Dome, "Inner Circle" are red, they are the line you described inside the Dome in your dream. The Guardians were trained in fighting, although as I say few needed to use those skills, and they also took sparkling bodies from prospective Creators to be enSparked, as you described in your dreams. Most Guardians volunteered to train for the duty but there are rumours that sometimes the AllSpark itself would alert another Guardian in some way to the presence of one it felt would provide valuable service. That person would then be asked to join the Guardians, usually, but not always, as a trainee."

Another mental 'nudge' from the Essence, and Sam realised where it was going with this.

"Skywarp, I keep getting feelings, impressions from the Essence, and I think the Essence would like _you_ to take up that role," Sam told him. Skywarp began to speak, to deny this, but Sam carried on talking. "Look, you saved me by getting me food and water, and I still have enemies among the Decepticons. You've already proven that you will do what it takes to get something done, and that warping ability is what I would call 'valuable service.'"

"How do I know that this is true, and that it's not just a trick? I only have your word for this," Skywarp said. "I am willing to serve the Essence if this really is what it wants, but I do not wish to be locked into service to you by lies."

"Ask the Essence for a sign," Sam suggested. "If it is what the Essence wants, it could give you a sign, and you would know that is the Essence's will. If not well, I'm imagining it, or, as you seem to assume, lying."

"Very well," Skywarp said. "So, the Essence wants me to be an AllSpark Guardian? If this really is the case, it can give me Guardian colours. Blue and gold preferably, red would clash."

Sam briefly glowed blue, and Skywarp both felt and saw blue and gold lines and swirls of colour race down his body, along his wings, and down his limbs. Gold bands appeared around his lower arms, blue stripes edged in gold appeared on his wings and front. He felt rather than saw the edges of his helm become edged in gold, and he stared at Sam.

"I - I apologise for my doubt," he said, stunned. "Sam, I will not be able to sleep, I need some time to get used to this. Can we move on a little early?"

"Sure," Sam said, for he, too, wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep any more that night.

Once again the two rose, Sam mounted Skywarp's wing, and as Skywarp launched up, Sam touched his hand to Skywarp's switches and they winked out.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Nothing more of note happened on the rest of their way back, although they did find another planet supporting plant life that Sam was able to eat, although this time the fruit-bearing plants showed no signs of intelligence, nor any inclination to fight when Sam took some fruit, glad for a change from the juice-fruits of the intelligent plants. They left the remaining seeds and fruit of the latter here, as the sun was suitable, before moving on.

They reached the ship with the hatchlings on it, which was still, quiet, and dark. Skywarp checked the hatchlings, and reassured Sam that they had arrived a little early, before contacting his wing brothers, who immediately said they would come and join him. Skywarp set Sam down on the sill of a porthole that looked towards Earth as they waited for Starscream and Thundercracker to arrive.

As they waited, neither of them noticed the menacing form that approached silently from the shadows, three other silhouettes following in its wake. Sam and Skywarp both turned as the ship suddenly came humming to life, the lights flickering on, one by one, the hatchling cocoons suddenly brightening and pulsing, the forms inside moving, shifting inside."The energon is coming in. Sam, we did it, the hatchlings are going to be saved!"

"And it seems I will get my revenge at last," came a familiar voice from behind them, a voice that sent ice-water shivers down Sam's spine. He and Skywarp turned as one.

Megatron stood twenty feet away, as menacing as ever.

Behind him stood three Seekers unfamiliar to Sam, with unusual, bullet-pointed heads. Megatron pointed one long claw at Sam.

"Skywarp, bring the squishy here to me. We have unfinished business to attend to."


	9. Chapter 9

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Eight.

A/N: Thanks to ReflectionsOfRealiy for much of the wording of one particular thing Sam says.

As Skywarp swiftly picked him up, for one terrifying moment Sam feared Skywarp was going to do exactly as Megatron had demanded. Instead, Skywarp held Sam protectively cupped in one hand, the other curving around him to shield his fragile form from Megatron and the others as he straightened to look the silver tyrant directly in the optics.

"No, Megatron, my loyalty no longer lies with you, but with the AllSpark. I am now an AllSpark guardian, and I will guard this vessel, and the Essence within him, as long as my Spark stays alight." With that, Skywarp abruptly warped from the spot, even as Megatron opened the pointing hand menacingly and took a step forwards.

As Sam and Skywarp appeared in a different part of the ship, Sam said "Come on, we need to find a place without any hatchlings or sensitive equipment. If any fighting starts, we don't want hatchlings or essential equipment to get hit."

"Sam, we can keep running, but eventually Megatron will find us. He might even hold the hatchlings to ransom, threaten to kill some unless you are handed over." |Skywarp fretted.

"Very true, but we just need enough time to formulate a plan and I already have an idea."

It took them a lot less time than they thought it would to find an appropriate place to hide.

"Okay." Sam said as they sat behind a piece of thick room divide, Sam climbing on to Skywarp's shoulder so he was close to his audio. "This is my basic idea, let's see if we can improve it any, or think of something different."

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Furious at Skywarp's defiance and abrupt departure, Megatron dispatched the three Conehead Seekers, Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet, to find the delinquent Skywarp and bring him and the human boy directly to him, or just the human boy if they got the chance. The three had separated to search the ship twenty minutes ago, and so far, none of them had reported in to Megatron, a fact that irked the silver tyrant.

A bang of displaced air made Megatron turn so he was facing the newly-arrived Skywarp, who was hovering a few feet off the ground.

"Where's your squishy pet, traitor?" he asked.

"He's not here, but I bring you an offer from him, yours to take if you wish, or ignore if you wish," Skywarp told him. "The Essence has agreed to negotiate with you. If you wish to negotiate, meet us in the empty cargo hold at the front of the vessel in thirty Earth minutes."

"Very well. Thirty Earth minutes. We'll be there," he said, comming the Conehead Trine to return to him.

As Skywarp disappeared, Megatron allowed himself a smile. Yes, they would be there and yes, they would negotiate, but the moment the squishy and his Guardian's guard was dropped, he would seize the human and eliminate him.

When the Coneheads got back, there was only fifteen of the thirty minutes left. Briefing them over the comm as they went, Megatron led the way to the agreed negotiation point.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Skywarp arrived back at where he had arrived from in time to see Starscream, (who had arrived with Thundercracker five minutes earlier) cradling a just-emerged hatchling in one arm. The Air Commander cooed at it as he dipped sharp fingers into the energon still left at the bottom of the cocoon and then slipped the energon-coated fingers gently into the hatchling's mouth. The hatchling wasted no time in slurping up the warm blue fluid, and once it had, Starscream repeated his actions. Thundercracker also held a hatchling, this one now in recharge, as he slipped it in one of the recharge units that hummed quietly nearby.

Skywarp made his way over to Sam, who was sat by a still-maturing cocoon and said "Megatron has agreed to negotiate, he has agreed the place and the time. Sam, what will we do if he agrees to negotiate but turns on us?"

"Keep your guard up at all times," Sam instructed. "Do not trust him. If the worst comes to the worst, I hope the Essence will intervene."

For a few more moments Sam watched Starscream finish feeding the hatchling, until it, too, slid into recharge and Starscream placed it tenderly in the recharge unit next to its fellow. Thundercracker nodded.

"Ten minutes until we need to get to the cargo hold," the blue Seeker stated, but Starscream shook his head.

"No, we should get there now, or Megatron will get there early in order to surprise us," the trine leader explained. "He may already have done so, but I don't think so. Megatron will be expecting us to arrive when we said, not before."

"Then, shall we?" asked Skywarp as he put Sam on his shoulder and spread out his arms. The other two Seekers closed in on him, one at the back and one at the front, wrapping arms tightly around Skywarp and each other, pulling tight so as not to strain Skywarp's warp field.

With a pop, they exited Hatchling Storage Bay 12.

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As they had hoped, when they arrived in the empty cargo bay, they arrived before the others. Skywarp moved towards the back, where spare pieces of Sun Harvester were stacked against the back, if push came to shove, Sam could hide amongst them. Starscream and Thundercracker moved further up until they were at a position where they could defend Sam if need be, or make a sharp exit if required to.

When Megatron and the Coneheads arrived, it was clear to see that not only had he not anticipated their early arrival, but that neither had he expected the whole of Skywarp's trine to be present.

Motioning the Conehards to stand back, Megatron approached, his hands down and spread wide.

"So, we are here to negotiate," he said to Skywarp. "What are we to negotiate about?"

"The Essence wants to create, not destroy," Skywarp explained, using much of the wording the Essence, speaking via Sam to him earlier, had used. "It wants the hatchlings on board this ship to live. It wants us to make peace between ourselves and the Autobots. It suggests we find a world of our own and open trade links with Earth, we can trade them resources they lack for technical help and refined materials to start up our colony."

If Megatron had possessed an upper lip, the tone of voice he spoke in to reply suggested it would be twisting in a sneer.

"It wants us to declare peace with the Autobots and the fleshy infestation on that rock of theirs? To _trade_ with them to help set up our colony? We are _Cybertronians_, far superior to those fleshy creatures." He raised a hand, closing the fingers into a sharp fist. "We need no help from _insects._"

"I beg you to reconsider, Lord Megatron," Skywarp implored, spreading his hands in entreaty. "This world is resource-poor, I know from my own travels there are many, many worlds out there we could adapt to our own needs. Why not set up our colony as Sam suggests, make peace and rear these hatchlings on a world of our own creation? We could cut ties with Earth as soon as our colony is running, and never visit again, never even _see_ it again, if that is what you want."

"Why not indeed?" Megatron asked, his voice indicating that he was thinking about something. "Your plan does seem sound." He took a step forward. "There is just one thing missing from your plan." He took another step forward.

"What is that, Lord Megatron?" asked Skywarp, leaning forward earnestly, thinking that maybe a short spell of death had tempered Megatron some and that he might indeed choose peace if he could make the right offer.

"My revenge," Megatron stated.

Megatron, with lightning speed, seized one of the Seeker's wings and pulled. Already off-balance, Skywarp cried out as he fell forward, feet taking him forward as he fought for balance. This gave Megatron the opportunity to turn the Seeker and wrap an arm around his neck, pulling him hard against the silver overlord's body. Megatron's other hand landed on Skywarp's cockpit, pressing hard, finger-claws digging into seams. Skywarp could not suppress a whimper. His Spark lay under there, and Megatron had a certain reputation for taking, and sometimes consuming, the Sparks of his enemies.

"The negotiations have just changed," he stated. "Hand over the fleshy creature, or his guardian dies."

Megatron did not notice the other five Seekers tensing, but Sam did, and from the Essence he knew that all Seekers considered all other Seekers, not just their own trine, as kin. If Megatron tried to carry out his threat, the other five would tear Megatron apart, although probably not without loss of life on their part. The Essence didn't want that, even one more death was one more death too many, and with that thought, and the will of the Essence in his mind, he stepped forwards.

"Here I am, Megatron. Skywarp, do not try to defend me when he lets you go. Megatron, I give myself to you, although the Essence wants you to know that it has already given you a chance. When the Shard was put in your chest, it gave you life only because the Essence willed it. It does not wish to cause death, only to give life."

"When I extract the Essence from your body, fleshling, as slowly and painfully for you as possible, I will make it see my point of view. We will advance across the universe, my Decepticons and I, pausing only to burn any Autobot or human off the face of creation." He pressed his claws a fraction tighter against Skywarp's chest. "Come to stand next to me or Skywarp dies."

"Will you release him if I do as you say?" Sam asked. Megatron nodded.

"Yes, because I will need my hands free to deal with you," the silver overlord stated. Nodding, Sam held up a hand to forestall Starscream and Thundercracker from making an abortive grab for their trine mate, and wondered that Megatron could not feel the daggers the Coneheads behind him were looking at him. He walked forwards and, as Megatron had ordered, stood by his side, dwarfed by Megatron's viciously-spiked tank-tread foot. Sam fretted that Megatron might choose to tread on him and shred his flesh with the sharp blades, but the Essence assured him that Megatron would not make it so fast.

Megatron suddenly shoved Skywarp forward so fast that he almost fell over, his wing brothers catching him before he hit the floor. By the time he had regained his balance, Megatron had scooped Sam up off the floor, holding him in a grip so tight that Sam could barely breathe.

"Now, Boy, I have a score to settle with you," Megatron stated. "How should I do this? Shall I pull off your arms and legs, slowly, twisting so you feel each joint pop and every tendon snap? Maybe I should land by the Autobot base so your Autobot friends can see what I do to you? Or maybe I could hijack the television satellites with Soundwave's help, and broadcast your death to the whole of your planet?"

Sam's mind had almost seized up in terror at the threats Megatron was making, but when the Essence showed him its plan, it seemed so fitting and so perfect that Sam actually laughed out loud. Megatron stared at him, having expected almost any response except laughter.

"What's so funny, boy? I intend that you will suffer, and when you die that Essence you possess will pass from you into me, for me to do with it what I will."

"No, Megatron, the Essence has already decided what to do about you," Sam told the Decepticon leader. "It won't kill you, it doesn't want to kill that to which it has twice given life to. It gave you a chance to change the way you viewed the universe and your place in it and you blew it."

"So it has seen sense and decided to come to me willingly?" laughed Megatron. "Don't think that will save your life, boy, because it won't, I want my revenge upon you."

"No, Megatron, it has decided you will live, but not as the mech everyone knows now. Your mind is warlike and angry, so you will lose your memories and every experience that has made you that way." As Megatron for the first time looked alarmed, Sam lifted his chin to look the silver mech directly in the optics.

"If you're going to act like a spoiled sparkling who will destroy everything around him in order to get his own way, Megatron, you may as well become one again."

Sam was suddenly obscured by a bright white light, which spread to cover Megatron even as the silver overlord tried in vain to drop Sam. The glowing light that was both of them began to shrink, condensing down and down again until it was about six feet tall by five wide. As the glow faded it revealed Sam, exhausted, half crouching and half leaning against a small, clicking, mini-Megatron, which was gently prodding Sam in evident curiosity. Seated, it came up to Sam's chest, standing it would be about seven feet tall.

Skywarp was the first to move, scooping up Sam, and Starscream quickly followed, lifting the sparkling into his arms and gently running his jet engines to comfort it, for it had begun whimpering when Sam was taken by Skywarp. At the gentle vibration, the sparkling-Megatron stopped whimpering and began to purr, the purr intensifying as Starscream began cooing at it, running fingers over the little points on its head.

"What's happened?" asked a confused Thundercracker, this echoed by the three Coneheads who clustered around Starscream, all reaching out fingers to caress or tickle the little one.

"Megatron will live, but his memories are gone and he's a sparkling again," Sam explained wearily. "The Essence wants him to grow up again, perhaps learn to accept the world we're in instead of trying to destroy it. The Essence suggests telling it that it was named after the Lord High Protector, for when he was a just and fair mech. As far as the Essence is concerned, that Megatron died in Mission City."

"That seems to make sense." Thundercracker said, nodding. At that moment, a banging was heard on the hull of the vessel, and Starscream looked up, his optics dimming and then flashing again.

"Sam, everyone, I think we had best be ready to fight again if need be." Starscream said. "I have just received a communication from Soundwave. That was him banging on the hull, announcing his presence and letting us know that he intends to board. He said he was communicating with Megatron when the com suddenly went dead. Now all he's getting is clicking and purring." The Seeker, the sparkling already in recharge in his arms, looked up at the weary Sam.

"He wants to know what has happened to Megatron."


	10. Chapter 10

Taking Liberties.

Chapter Nine.

Thundercracker was dispatched to let Soundwave in after being instructed by Starscream to tell the other Decepticon that he would get a full explanation when he got to the cargo hold. Skywarp held Sam again, the human almost falling asleep in the Seeker's hands, while Starscream still held the sparkling-Megatron, who was now so deep in recharge it was unlikely that he would awaken any time soon. The tension in the ship was almost palpable, even before Starscream led the tall blue and silver mech into the hold.

Sam was mesmerised by the effortless economy of movement that seemed to be a natural feature of Soundwave. As the latter smoothly and gracefully moved into the bay, his red optics, set in a long and imposing silver face, caught Sam's eyes. As Sam stared, he found himself unable to look away, the optics seeming to see into Sam's innermost thoughts. He could feel the Essence, too, felt it open up to the presence he could feel in his mind, and he followed its lead, allowing the intruding mind to look through the past hour's events.

It was the big Decepticon himself that broke the contact, his side-opening mandibles twitching once before he moved his optics away from Sam to look at Megatron, curled up in the arms of Starscream, face buried against his chest next to the Seeker's cockpit, optics fully shuttered. Soundwave reached out with one hand, brushing it lightly down the sparkling's knobbled back before inclining his head towards Sam in a nod.

"Soundwave understands," the big Decepticon said in a calm, deep voice. "Megatron lives but cannot lead. Essence wishes peace."

"How…how do you know that?" Sam asked, then added as an afterthought "Sir." Soundwave's bearing was so regal that leaving off the last wouldn't have felt right to Sam.

"That's Soundwave, Sam, he can read minds," Starscream told the human. Soundwave himself took no notice of this little exchange, but crouched by one of the still-occupied cocoons, gazing at the occupant for a moment before standing again and crossing back over to look at Sam again.

"Hatchlings change things. Energy is plentiful. Young lives should be treasured. Seekers will care for Megatron. Sam's idea for a colony with trade links is logical. Soundwave will start research." With that, the large mech left the same way he had come, and all anyone could hear for a few seconds was air whooshing out of vents in relief.

"Well, that went better than I was expecting," Dirge, one of the Coneheads said. "He took it quite well."

Starscream moved over towards one of the recharge units with the recumbent Megatron. "Well, now that all the excitement is over, this sparkling needs to recharge, and we need to check the rest of the hatchlings. If any more have emerged, they'll need to be looked after." He carefully lay Megatron down next to the other two as Skywarp moved over as well.

"I think Sam needs to rest, too." Skywarp said, gently lowering his hands to deposit Sam next to Megatron. The human made no protest as he had finally succumbed to the exhaustion that Megatron's appearance had temporarily banished.

"Are you sure he'll be okay in there? The recharge process won't harm him?" Starscream asked.

"While we travelled between candidate suns, he talked," Skywarp told his wingleader. "He mentioned he's been in with Bumblebee while he's been recharging, so I'm sure he'll be just fine." Sam shifted slightly as Skywarp lowered the lid, then lay still. "He'll be safe enough in there while we check the rest of those hatchlings, and we're likely to be back before he wakes."

Nodding in agreement, Starscream moved over to the others. Five minutes later, the six Seekers all had a section of ship to check assigned to them, and they went out to carry out their task.

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Sam awoke feeling much refreshed, but clasped by a pair of metal arms against a metal chest. By turning his head and angling his eyes up a bit, he could see that the chest that his back was held against belonged to the sparkling Megatron. Sam had to admit that he was not being held too tight, and neither were the sharp points of the sparkling's fingers digging into him, but acting as Megatron's teddy bear equivalent felt a little ignominious.

Wriggling slightly only made the sleeping mech tighten his grip slightly, had his arms been free he might have been able to lever himself out but his arms were pinned against his own chest by Megatron's own arms. Waking the sparkling seemed a bit too drastic, and he huffed slightly as he considered his options. His train of thought was derailed as he heard an amused chuckle from outside the recharge unit.

"Who's there?" he asked nervously, aware that he was horribly vulnerable like this.

"It's okay, Sam, it's me, Skywarp."

"Could you give me a hand here to get out?" he asked. "He doesn't seem to want to let go. He's not hurting me but it's a little restrictive."

"Oh, but Sam, you look so cute like that. I should take a holo and share it with your parents and mate."

"Don't you dare," Sam said in mild horror, well believing that the Seeker might just do that in revenge for being overridden.

Skywarp's response was another chuckle as he lifted the clear canopy of the unit, reaching in carefully to pick both of them up.

"He'll be recharged enough by now anyway, he'll be wanting a feed soon. Come, we'll make a last warp to Earth. We'll take you back to the Autobots, they'll have something for those we'll be bringing with us, we have eleven hatchlings, I'll be taking the others down two at a time, I'll need you to augment my warping again."

As the sparkling awoke, Skywarp deftly pulled its arms from Sam enough so that the human could get out of the silver mech's embrace. Megatron whimpered, reaching for Sam again, but Skywarp wiggled his fingers in its face. It watched these instinctively, attention off Sam, which allowed him to climb up Skywarp's arm to wedge himself in his usual position.

"Dirge, Thrust, are you ready?" Skywarp asked. The two named Coneheads approached, each bearing two hatchlings. The other Seekers pressed themselves up against Skywarp, who grabbed onto one with one arm, and looped his leg round one of the other's legs to keep them together.

"That doesn't look very secure," Sam observed.

"It doesn't have to last long, only while we warp, once we appear in the air we'll be flying under our own power," Dirge said.

"I guess that makes sense," Sam observed, and flipped down the panel on Skywarp's helm. "Everybody ready?"

They all affirmed that they were, and the remaining three Seekers, also draped in hatchlings, watched as Skywarp, Dirge, Thrust, and Sam vanished with a pop of displaced air.

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Autobot Base.

It was Mirage, manning the observation point in the control room, who spotted the cluster of figures that abruptly appeared in the sky and separated into three. The Autobots had expected the arrival of three Seekers since Thundercracker and Skywarp had left earlier. They had told the Autobots that they had received a communication from Skywarp and that Sam was safe and well and with him on a ship hidden on one of Saturn's moons. They promised not to harm Sam unless Skywarp had been harmed, and left. Now, it seemed, they were returning.

"Seekers spotted, three of them, incoming," he stated. He switched to energy scanners and had to blink twice.

"Scans detect one human life-sign and…" he blinked again, "_nine_ Spark-signatures!"

"Ratchet, Ironhide, Bumblebee and I will go out to meet them," Optimus stated. He commed for the three as he headed for the door, Ratchet joined him in the corridor, Bumblebee came running up as they got to the door, and Ironhide joined them from the gatehouse after opening the gates and dropping the force-field so they could go out.

The three Seekers all landed nearby, and Ratchet's sharp medical optics were the first to register the hatchlings clinging to the Coneheads, and he moved forwards, hands out to take one of them from their Seeker bearers. By the time everyone else had moved forwards to give similar help, Ratchet had tipped the one he was holding on to its back, despite its clicks of protest at such treatment, and was scanning it.

"Healthy enough, and early-framed," he said, noting the body configuration. "Where did you get these?"

"Up on the ship that the Primes arrived on," Skywarp explained. "They were stored to provide workers to erect the Harvester. There are thousands of them up there, Ratchet, and now that Sam has arranged the harvest of a blue-white sun, they can survive up there for several more millennia if need be, although Soundwave is looking for a world suitable for colonisation."

Ratchet blinked in confusion. "Can you perhaps start from the beginning, Skywarp, and miss nothing out, because although I'm certain you make sense to someone in the know, at the moment I'm just confused."

"Perhaps we can go to my office or the medical bay and discuss this over some energon?" Optimus suggested.

"Not right now, there are three more Seekers and another seven hatchlings up there waiting for us," Skywarp said, and Sam nodded.

"I need to go back with him, to augment his warping," the human explained. Skywarp suddenly realised he was still holding the sparkling-Megatron. He gave a mischievous grin.

"Here, you look after your brother. He may be a little hungry," he said as he plopped the sparkling into Optimus' free arm. Optimus looked a little surprised as he caught it in his arm and scrutinised its features with a look comprised of bafflement and surprise.

By the time he thought to ask Skywarp for an explanation, he had launched himself back into the air.

"I am very much looking forwards to that explanation." he said in bewilderment as he gazed at the mini-Megatron. The sparkling gazed up curiously, than began to wriggle and click.

"Well, while we're waiting, we can feed him, and these others," Ratchet said. "Come on, I have some medical-grade energon in the medbay they should be able to use."

He turned to go back in the Base, the others following him.


	11. Chapter 11

Taking Liberties.

Epilogue.

They gathered several hours later in the main hall building, the only place large enough to hold six thirty-foot Seekers, four Autobots who ranged in size between sixteen and twenty-eight feet high, one sparkling, and one human.

Sam was carried in by Skywarp, who waited for everyone else to enter and sit down before handing the human into the silver hands of Bumblebee, who nuzzled Sam in concern, brushing his microphone against the boy's arms and hands before asking "What were you thinking of? Why couldn't you tell me what you were doing?"

"Like you would have _let _me go out and get caught by the Decepticons, much less helped me," Sam said in amusement. Bumblebee let out a mournful sigh and Sam moved to touch Bumblebee's face and reassure him.

"Hey, hey, 'Bee, it's fine, it was what the Essence wanted me to do, not that it was particularly clear about why or what to do all at once." He snorted slightly.

"Sam, I think we may all find things a little clearer if you start from the beginning," intoned Optimus, who had the sparkling Megatron sprawled on his lap, his big hand absently patting and stroking the back of the purring youngling. He was, it seemed, taking his new big-brother role seriously.

Sam chuckled, and settled himself down in Bumblebee's hands as the Autobot laced his fingers together to provide a comfortable seat for the human boy, and settled down to tell everyone how it had all started.

"It began with these very vivid dreams…" he began to explain.

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It took well over two hours, including drink breaks for the human, for all involved parties who were able to speak to explain what had happened. The Coneheads explained that Megatron had come looking for them, and they had only come across Sam by chance while they were resting onboard the ship. Megatron had planned to leave them there and look for others, and the arrival of Sam and the Command Trine had interrupted that. The six Seekers all detailed what had happened from their points of view also, explaining how Megatron had ended up as he now was.

Once they had finished explaining, Ratchet excused himself to check on the hatchlings, picking up Megatron on his way out as he was due another feed, and left. Optimus stood, and turned to face Sam, who was still sat comfortably in Bumblebee's hands.

"So, it seems the AllSpark is not lost after all. It has merely changed, moved, into a form we are less familiar with. This is good news, Sam."

Sam shifted uncomfortably.

"Wait, I know that the AllSpark is how you guys reproduce and is important to you, but don't forget that I've got my life to live as well. I'm not putting my life on hold because the Essence has taken up residence inside me." Sam looked up at Optimus nervously, perhaps realising how ludicrous that sounded, a six-foot organic being telling a twenty-eight foot robot that he'd do as he wanted no matter what said robot wanted to do about it. Skywarp, possibly sensing Sam's unease, stepped up beside Bumblebee and gave Optimus an intent stare.

Optimus' metal lips curved up slightly at the corners as his blue optics watched the human boy.

"Sam, don't worry, I will not expect you to give your life up to act as a the AllSpark for us, although Bumblebee and Skywarp may need to defend you against those who may attempt to make you do so," Optimus explained. "Hopefully the abundance of available hatchlings will reduce that risk, perhaps when a suitable planet is found for colonisation, Autobots and Decepticons may be working together rather than against each other."

"I'll do my best to defend you, Sam, that is if you still _want _me as a guardian now that you have Skywarp," Bumblebee said to Sam, and Sam felt a small, brief tremor run through the hands supporting him. He realised the young Autobot was feeling surplus, perhaps worrying about being displaced, and he twisted to face the scout, his hands stroking and patting in an attempt to reassure Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, I'll never not want you, you're one of my very best friends," Sam explained. "After all, I can't see college letting me have my own _plane_, and I imagine Skywarp will want to do his own things too. Anyway, you blend in better as a car." Realising that Skywarp's AllSpark Guardian status might be at the root of Bumblebee's sudden uncharacteristic insecurity. Well, there was an easy answer to _that_.

Sam rested his hand on Bumblebee's arm and closed his eyes, and Bumblebee warbled slightly as his yellow was augmented by blue and gold, most of which would not be visible while he was in alt mode, after all, he did still need to be disguised. He raised Sam to his face, gently rubbing his burnished cheek against his human friend as Sam stroked and patted the Autobot.

Sam pulled back, feeling the usual slight tiredness that seemed to result whenever the Essence worked through him.

"Bee? I think I could do with some more time to think things through more, but right now I think I need food." Sam told Bumblebee. "I could murder a pizza. Perhaps we could call her, pick her up somewhere and pick up a pizza on the way?"

As Bumblebee walked out with Sam, followed by Skywarp, Optimus smiled again.

He had a feeling that the next few months would prove to be interesting.


End file.
